"We're a couple and have a child, but we live separately. It works for us."

Chef Sergi de Meià and his partner Sandra have been together for 29 years. "We are a rare elderly", he says. They met in Vilanova de Meià, in Noguera. "I was 19 years old. My sister came to spend a weekend and brought her friends from university. I really liked Sandra and I confessed to my sister. "Don't even think about it!" she told me, because I was from have more than one friend".

A year went by and the sister finished her degree and asked if they could host the graduation dinner at her restaurant. The chef saw Sandra again. "What a beautiful woman!" he immediately thought. "When my sister asked me if she wanted to go to the party, 'afterwards, yes.'" "We started talking and kissed, which lasted for an hour or an hour and a half, until the disco lights came on. We fell in love instantly," explains the chef. When the sister found out, she was very clear: woe betide him if he hurt her.

Sandra was also very transparent. "One day we were meeting for coffee and she grabbed me and said, 'I'm coming out of a relationship very hard. If you love me, tell me now, and if not, we had a great time, and that's it." Recovering from his shock, the chef replied: "Okay, but you should know that I'm going to live in San Sebastián for a year. Are you willing to have a relationship with someone who travels and works a lot? We decided to give it a try, and since then, 29 years have passed, we've had a child, and we've lived through all kinds of things."

What has always united them, says the chef, is love and respect. "For me, Sandra is an Olympian goddess; she's a woman who understands me. All chefs' wives deserve a monument. Our work isn't easy: I've missed many years with my son and my wife, but it's not always about the quantity of hours, but also the quality. We're a couple and we have a child, but we live separately; I'm in Vilanova de Meià and they're in Barcelona: it works for us. When we lived together, we never saw each other because I'd leave and come back while they were asleep. Now we spend three days together and it's a very quality time," the chef celebrates.